Travis Hunter's Potential Jaguars Contract Bonuses as WR, CB Outlined in New Report

The Jacksonville Jaguars plan to use Travis Hunter on both sides of the ball as a rookie, and the team is already rotating him between offense and defense in offseason team activities.

He's projected to earn a four-year, $46.5 million contract with a $30.5 million signing bonus as the No. 2 overall pick in the NFL draft. However, he's in line to earn even more through the league's performance-based pay system, per ESPN's Dan Graziano.

"Playing on both sides of the ball would help Hunter significantly in the NFL's performance-based pay system (PBP), which is designed to augment player salaries by giving out bonuses in the offseason tied to playing time from the previous season. Each team gets a set pool of money for performance-based pay bonuses (it was $14.128 million per team this past year), and the money is divvied up according to a formula that involves the player's salary, signing bonus proration, other bonuses and playing time."

"Playing time" is the key phrase here. Hunter would obviously be getting playing time on both sides of the ball, certainly helping his case for a bonus.

Graziano highlighted the importance of CBA Article 28, Section 5(a). In essence, a player's play-time percentage is calculated via "adding the player's total plays on offense or defense, as appropriate, plus special teams and (ii) dividing that number by the total plays of the player on the team's roster with the most combined plays on offense, defense and special teams for that Club."

As far as numbers go, Graziano wrote that it's difficult to project. However, he looked at the earnings possibilities through the potential of Hunter possibly amassing the most overall snaps out of anyone on the Jaguars roster this season, which isn't impossible to imagine considering he can play, offense, defense and special teams. Graziano also projected the PBP pool to be $16 million per team.

He estimated that Hunter could earn between $300,000 and $400,000 in extra pay this season.

It's no secret that the Jaguars are all-in on Hunter. General manager James Gladstone raved about Hunter at his introductory press conference, telling reporters:

"He is somebody who is deserving of a first-round draft pick as a wide receiver, and he is worthy of a first-round draft pick as a corner," Gladstone said. "We're excited about just getting him in the boat."

The Jaguars traded up from the fifth to the second overall pick to land Hunter, giving the Browns their 2026 first-rounder and their 2025 second-round (No. 36) and fourth-round (No. 126) picks in return. It's clear they value him not only as a franchise cornerstone, but the face of a potential turnaround after they went 4-13 and have only made the playoffs twice since 2008.